Talitha Tan is lending her voice to raise awareness for the launch of “Making Flu Prevention My New Normal”, a national pledge campaign to encourage Malaysians to take action against flu. She will also be performing at the campaign’s digital show on the 10th of September.
We’re sure everyone has heard of the undeniably talented musician from Kuala Lumpur. She debuted her first official single back in 2016, “Okay”, which has garnered over 2 million streams on Spotify. The singer is also known for advocating an active lifestyle and showing never-ending love for her cats on her social media accounts.
We recently had the chance to chat with the 23-year-old singer-songwriter about the digital show, her MCO experience over the past few months, and the happenings for the rest of the year.
Check out the interview:
1. Is this your first time being part of a digital concert? How excited are you?
It’s not my first time doing a digital concert, I did one recently a few weeks back. It’s quite interesting because the camera does wonders, it hides all your awkwardness (laughs). It’s definitely exciting! I hope people tune in because it’s going to be fun and we also got a whole line up of amazing performers.
2. What drew you to this campaign and what do you wish to achieve from this experience?
I’d like to think that I’m an advocate for being healthy and staying safe, and prevention is always better than finding a cure. Also, I’m happy to lend my voice to raise awareness, not only because I believe in staying healthy, but I get to do it through music.
3. How have you been preparing for the upcoming online show?
What I need to prepare is myself, my guitar and the music I’m performing. It’s kind of like a live performance but instead of performing in front of a crowd, you’re performing in front of a camera.
4. Will you be performing your latest single “get2know”?
For this show, I’ll be playing my first single “Okay” because I thought it’s more suited for the occasion since it’s basically saying you’ll be okay. And a song called “Pokok”, which is a song that I really really enjoy performing because there’s a lot of feelings to it.
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5. Have you been working on any new songs since the release of “get2know”?
I’m currently trying to finish up a song for my album. The album will consist of this new single and the remaining songs that you may have already heard – piled up together. We’re looking to release it maybe in November.
6. Since this is going to be your very first album, is it exciting?
Yeah! The reason why I haven’t released a full album is because people’s attention span are really short. If you release an entire album, not everybody will listen to it (from start to finish). So all I’ve been doing is releasing singles for my listeners.
7. Personally, how have you been coping with COVID-19 and MCO?
Personally, I enjoy being at home. I was an extrovert but I’ve learned to be an introvert and I have these babies (cats)! So, my cats helped. I do feel very lucky to have a roof under my head during MCO because I am still able to work through social media, because everyone is online.
I do feel bad for people with businesses because I think that would be a struggle. I personally have always enjoyed working from home. Mentally, its okay for me because I do have loved ones around me. If I was alone, it might’ve been a complete different story.
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8. Has it been hard to stay motivated or be inspired during the MCO period?
I feel like I was quite motivated in fitness and music during MCO. I bought a mic a few years ago and I never touched it. It was in the closet for years and I never took it out and never bothered to learn how to use it. I feel like MCO opened a lot of doors for me.
I used to workout every single day without fail last time. Then I stopped for 2 years because I wanted to concentrate on music. I tried to pick it up this year but found it a bit ‘on and off’, and then when MCO started, I was working out every single day. I was motivated as can be. For me, MCO made me want to find new things to do and in a way, find (new) content. I just wanted to keep myself busy.
9. Did you pick up any new skills during these past few months?
I don’t know about new skills but it’s more about getting better at things, getting stronger in fitness and I guess, I kind of got better at baking but I stopped again because I kind of hate cleaning (laughs). But, everybody was baking and cooking. I did those and you know what, I can’t be bothered to clean or think about baking anymore.
10. You went from R&B and soulful in “fooled up” to the positive indie-pop in “get2know”. How would you describe the changes in your style of music?
I would say I’m still finding my sound. There’re so many sounds that I can appreciate and love, and I’m constantly wanting to try out all these sounds because I love them. I don’t actually sit down and say “Okay, I wanna sound like this”. Basically, the producer would come up with a beat and I’m like “Okay, I like that”, “Let’s put this in.”
We try to work something out and I go with the flow more. “Fooled me” had the r&b vibe to it which I love very much. I think I’m still experimenting with creative sounds that I can call mine. I think my voice is a genre itself .
11. Tell us more about your upcoming album.
Unfortunately, there won’t be as many new songs on the album. (Most of) the songs have already been released. The new song will be released is a little bit like Lauv, not as good as Lauv, Lauv is great but yeah, the sounds are lighter and dreamier.
12. Were you supposed to perform for any music festivals or concerts this year that got cancelled due to the pandemic?
I was supposed to perform for Good Vibes Festival (GVF) this year. I was really excited. I’ve been wanting to perform for Good Vibes again for the longest time. Good Vibes was the first biggest concert I performed a few years ago.
It was really great because I went there and performed, and it was unexpected. People actually waited for my performance and I didn’t expect that at all. I just want to go back there and perform!
13. Moving forward, how do you think concerts and live showcases will adjust to ensure everyone’s safety?
I had this virtual concert I did recently with Daiyan Trisha, Dua Musa, and Neeta. It was done very well. They literally had a bunch of cameras, constantly panning. It’s literally live and not pre-recorded. It looks amazing on camera, they literally have shots of you close up, panning and the next thing you know, they cut to another camera.
I personally love it, because people cannot see how awkward I am on stage (laughs). You kind of miss out on the mistakes. The only awkward part is you’re performing to nobody. I love it but I do miss the crowd interactions. You don’t get to hear people singing along and I’m sure the crowd would miss being at a live concert. I can’t really say if next year will be any different but let’s hope for the best.
To learn more about the “Making Flu Prevention My New Normal” campaign and this week’s virtual concert (featuring Talitha and more), click here.
